It is well known that safety officials and police officers are concerned with the safety of motor vehicle traffic and with maintaining the flow of motor vehicle traffic. It is also well known that traffic jams and secondary accidents may often be attributable to the slowdown and jamming of traffic at accident sites. Whenever an accident occurs, it not only slows traffic in the traffic lane where the accident occurs, but also results in the slowing of traffic in the opposite lane as a result of motorists slowing to look at the site of the accident.
Typically, freeway accidents in densely populated areas often cause traffic jams, partly as a result of curious drivers slowing down to see what event has caused the accident. Problems and difficulties have been encountered due to the slowdown of traffic which further induces traffic delays that greatly restrict current freeway systems' ability to handle higher traffic volume.
Accidents, stalled cars, and other roadway incidents often lead to traffic jams and additional accidents caused by curious drivers who slow down to look at the scene. Such traffic jams and accidents often continue to occur after emergency vehicles reach the scene, as the flashing lights and commotion associated with the clean-up and investigation distract other drivers.
The problems created by onlookers are not limited to just those vehicles in the lanes adjacent to the accident scene, but may also extend to vehicles in the lanes of traffic moving in the opposite direction, due to “rubbernecking” by passing motorists. Rubbernecking is the phenomena of motorists slowing down to observe an accident or anything unusual on the side of the road. The momentary slow down creates an imbalance in the space between cars. And, in a very short time drivers have concocted a traffic jam of their very own. That action shrinks the carrying capacity of the road, almost the same way a closed lane does. The effect bounces backward one car at a time, in a shock wave that lasts independently of the initial problem, so that there's often not even anything for the rubberneckers to see. Additionally, where the incident is near pedestrian traffic, curious passersby may stop to observe and unwittingly get in the way of the emergency crews and hinder the rescue and clean-up efforts.
Under present-day traffic conditions on express and highways, particularly in unfavorable weather, it is a common occurrence that a more or less serious accident becomes the cause of traffic jams and/or additional accidents due to the fact that other travellers slow down or even stop in the vicinity of the original accident scene in order to view the scene or, perhaps, in some cases to bring assistance to victims. It is well known that such behaviors frequently continue even after the arrival of emergency vehicles, such as police or patrol cars, towing cars, fire trucks, ambulances or the like, in spite of the fact that the rescue work would be greatly facilitated, if the road traffic proceeded as unhampered as possible.
Additional problems encountered with traffic jams and slowdowns reside in causing secondary accidents which may occur as the result of distracted drivers and emergency personnel at the scene are sometimes injured due to such distraction. An object of the present invention is to provide means, whereby a roadside accident scene may be rapidly and effectively shielded from view.
To address these issues traffic control devices have been implemented. There are numerous examples in the prior art of various devices to control or limit traffic access to restricted areas. Conventional temporary barriers in the form of marker cones may be used for temporary traffic control in accident or construction situations. The orange cones may sometimes not readily be seen outside of an immediate area where the cone is placed, particularly in poor weather conditions. The cones may also frequently be destroyed or badly damaged when inadvertently struck by a motor vehicle.
Flares are another conventional warning device for use with accidents or disabled motor vehicles. Flares have an advantage of being easily visible at night. However, a motorist who drives past one or more flares may be temporarily blinded by their brightness, thereby endangering the motorist and people in the vicinity of the motorist. The flare is particularly dangerous to use where an automobile collision causes a spillage of gasoline on a roadway. Flares may also release noxious fumes when they burn.
These conventional warning devices have several disadvantages. For example, some conventional warning devices are so small in size that the reflective surfaces bearing the warning signals on the conventional warning devices are barely noticeable so that drivers of incoming traffic may not notice the disabled vehicle.
Additional disadvantages may occur when weather conditions are poor. For example, since the size of the warning sign is usually small, when the weather condition is poor, drivers of the incoming traffic may not notice the sign. In addition, since the warning sign is separately erected at a distance from the disabled vehicle, it may easily be toppled when the warning sign is used in poor weather conditions.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved partition or screen that will separate and shield oncoming motorists' vision from a recently occurring accident, stalled cars, construction sites or other highway incidents, thereby maintaining the flow of traffic near the incident, so that passing motorists will be motivated to maintain speed and to leave the incident site as rapidly as possible. Such a screen or shield should be reusable, of a temporary nature and may be readily available for deployment at the incident site for temporarily obscuring oncoming motorist's view. When the incident is over, the shield may be returned to its stored condition for repeated use at other locations and times. Therefore, a need exists for a highly visible warning device that may be conveniently stored.